Business Plan

Business
Plan
Writing

The
importance of writing an effective business plan cannot be overstated. Business plans are of great
importance to both existing and start up businesses.
While business plans are mostly used in the process of sourcing funds
from other parties, they serve many other purposes such as attracting
key employees and executives, demonstrating a high level of competence
and expertise,
forming strategic alliances and many more useful
aspects. There
are many avenues of achieving a complete business plan. They primarily
include:
writing the business plan yourself, using business planning software or
employing a professional
consultant to develop it for you. Each of the avenues mentioned has
their merits and downfalls. If you
intend to develop a business plan yourself, it is important to
thoroughly understand the key components of a business plan and learn
how to
develop a winning and effective business plan.

Business planning software
makes the process of business plan writing a
lot easier and faster. In most cases the outlook can be very
professional; however, funding providers and other parties you intend
to submit your
business plan to easily if not immediately recognize that the business
plan is produced using software and therefore it is considered to be a
‘typical business plan’ which does not fully demonstrate the competence
of your business or organization. This is due to the fact that people
easily recognize that the contents of the plan are not originally from
you or your organization. It is therefore important to use the software
for critical areas such as the Financial Plan of your business plan and
not the entire business plan. Alternatively, integrate as
much of
your research, ideas and other aspects with the content derived from
business planning software. Personalize the outlook as reasonably
possible without loosing any of the flair and professionalism.
Nevertheless, there are great business plan software programs on the
market such as Palo
Alto Software that you might
want to try out.

Employing a professional
consultant is a diligent choice; however, be
sure that the business plan is not derived from a shelf so that it is
not considered to be a 'typical' or copied business plan. It is
important for a
business to be original and have fresh content that reflects its
intentions, personality, culture, drive and enthusiasm. A business plan
should in essence have life. This further
means that you need to fully communicate your ideas to the professional
consultant you have engaged. Moreover, make use of the guidance,
advice, professional recommendations and reviews from your consultant.
On completion of the business plan, ensure that you go over the
contents of the plan and make sure that you understand every section of
the plan including the Financial Plan. Make sure that you understand
and agree with the contents of the business plan that has been produced
with the assistance of a consultant. Essentially, be in a position to
present the business plan to someone without the professional
consultant standing nearby.

Writing the business plan
yourself presents great benefits. You will
actually learn more about your business by writing the business plan
yourself. As
mentioned earlier, it is important to understand the key components of
a business plan and how to efficiently and effectively write one.
This website
covers the
components of a business plan and provides you with access to tools and
resources that can be helpful in your endeavor to achieve a winning and
effective
strategic business plan. It is important to understand that any one way
of
writing a business plan does not fit all. This can be attributed to the
fact that all businesses are different, as a result there is no
'standard' business plan. The contents covered herewith
are
common to most effective business plans. The information on this
website should be used as a guide only and not as the ultimate
professional advice.Back
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